While following a side link on a discussion list, I found this flat shuttle. Looks like they make a Lady Hoare shuttle too. I don't like to use the flat shuttles myself because my sweaty palms would make the thread all icky, but I have a few in my collection.

Wow....all this time and not much tatting to show for it. I've been busy though. I got my bag for the exchange done and sent out and I also worked on the game board for Lace Jeopardy. Finding a glue that works on laminated paper is turning into a challenge. Hot glue didn't do it. I just bought something in a yellow bottle today that said it worked for plastic, fabric, and paper....all of the materials involved, but it didn't. I found some fabric glue I had stashed away and it's in the test mode right now. I have to glue velcro pieces to the back of the laminated paper which is the $$$ amounts and the categories that are on the board. I need to be able to take them off and on.

Everyone had great fun doing the test run! I just taped the afore-mentioned laminated cards to the white board in the room. I need to work on the questions though. Some were too hard or vague. But that's why we tested it. The questions cover all kinds of lace,not just tatting, because we are a "lace" group, chartered by I.O.L.I.



I finished both of these motifs today. I only had the one on the left done when I started this. The scan made me think this might be a nice study on thread qualities. The one on the left is done with Pastelles embroidery thread - 2 strands. It's very limp and soft. The motif on the right is done in Olympus #40. I don't know what size the thread is. It says #40 on it, but it's bigger than size 40 thread so I don't know what that is about. The only other number on it is the weight in grams. I love this little motif. It's #13 in The Tatted Artistry of Teiko Fujito, a Lacis publication. I like the lines of it, but it is so easy to remember that I don't really need the diagram in front of me all the time along with my handy-dandy post-its! It's a little bigger and a little stiffer in the second thread. Neither is blocked yet. I just finger pressed and shaped them before scanning. It's a good practice piece for working on chain tension. I especially worked on snugging the chains up and shaping each ring before moving on with the second motif, but you can still see the discrepencies. I'm not sure how well blocking will eliminate that. I suspect it will look very nice in a size 12 DMC thread.

I've been looking for small but visually appealing and unusual motifs to put in small frames. They don't always work out the way you expect them to. LOL!

My latest test glue doesn't seem to be working right either....though better than the one before. I also think I figured out a chain sequence a friend told me about and I want to go test that "theory" too.

It's beautiful out and I should be outside, but I'm also incredibly tired. I really want to go take a nap.

Oh hey! I'm tired because I got up extra early to go get weighed and measured at Curves. Lost 4 pounds and 3 1/2 inches. Of course, I gained 5 inches last month, so that part doesn't impress me. The girls were quite different in their measurement methods and my clothes were significantly different too. But the weight loss did make me happy. I know I'm gaining muscle which weighs more than fat and I know the seemingly small changes are really significant, but I haven't seen a difference in the way my clothes fit either. That's what I'm looking for!

After the end of this month, I'm going to let it go for the summer. I have other things I would rather be doing. I may pick it back up in the fall, depending on what kind of changes I see during this month.